Dhabade, who is usually busy with designing sets for weddings and large-scale events, became an instant hit when he designed the pandal for Lalbaugcha Raja. He was flooded with offers from various Ganesh mandals. Anjeerwadi Ganeshotsav Mandal near Byculla is one of the few mandals for which Dhabade worked.

Dhabade accepted several offers from Navratri mandals to design sets for them. One such mandal was Natraj Navratri Utsav Mandal from Chinchpokli. Its members approached Dhabade just 10 days before the start of the festival and requested him to design a Rajasthani palace for the mandal.

Dhabade said, “This is the first year that I am designing sets for Navratri mandals. Earlier, I have been doing it for dandiya functions. But this is my first for pandals. I have always been a religious man. After Lalbaugcha Raja, I was flooded with offers, including those from local mandals.”

Sanjay Naik, president of Natraj Navratri Utsav Mandal, said Dhabade was asked to design the set, as the mandal completes 75 years this navratri.

We requested Dhabade to design the set. The work started just a week ago and was completed by Monday. After Lalbaugcha Raja, we were keen on having him design our pandal, as his work appealed our mandal a lot.”